Candidates, how will you solve the housing crisis?

Housing. It’s the issue that everyone talks about in San Francisco, especially the stratospheric prices. But the lack of affordable housing is intertwined with many other issues in this city, from the people living on the streets…to air quality and congestion…to the shrinking number of middle-class families in the city. It takes leadership to overcome the intense and often conflicting pressures to expand housing opportunities – including home ownership – while preserving the character and quality of life that makes San Francisco so appealing. It’s an issue that no candidate for mayor of San Francisco can avoid.

George Davis:

Low and Middle Income housing is at a crisis level. The long range solutions are primarily at a Federal tax level to make it profitable for developers to build this kind of housing. There are certainly areas in San Francisco that can be built up like Mission Street (prior to 1950, the second busiest commercial area in San Francisco), Van Ness Ave, Geary Blvd, Third St, and Port properties. As mayor, I would lobby our Federal Representatives and Government for interest rate subsidies, accelerated and short term depreciation schedules, and passive loss write-offs for developers and investors in low and middle income housing. On a local level, low and middle income housing would have a priority fast track in the planning and building departments and public hearings of my administration.

George Davis

Harold Brown:

Citizens,

San Francisco is caught in a housing ‘Catch-22′. The artists and dancers and musicians and writers whose work has drawn others to the City for 100 years could not afford to live here now. Same with any working stiff from waitress to school teacher to emergency service workers (cops, firefighters, EMT’s). It is only through artificial controls on the free market that we are able to keep any appreciable size of this population within our City limits. And, we are losing

the struggle.

My solution is to land trust all City owned property. That includes land deeded to the SFUSD (for the Excelsior teacher, there’s your affordable property – remove the potential for speculation and lots of property becomes available for experiments in social demographics – that’s what it is), the PUC … Mayor Newsom

and his allies favor free market exploitation of the land, sea and air. Artists, poor and families cannot compete in bidding for this space and it therefore must be removed from the possibility of speculative transactions. We can do this legislatively.

I favor a moratorium on all construction of market rate housing. Generally, these units are aimed for consumption by wealthy singles and retirees. A nice group, but they can live in NYC or Arizona just as well. We’ve already lost half of our school-aged children, 50% of our black population and a similar percentage of artists. We already have enough housing for the rich and everyone knows …

they don’t pay taxes anyway.

After our greatest disaster (earthquake and fire of ’06) we turned to the construction of mini-houses for over 100k citizens. We built these within a couple of months. We can do that again on odd shaped lots available around the City and on Treasure Island and the Presidio and at the Hunters Point Ship Yard.

We do not have a prayer unless Newsom is defeated or the rich suddenly become truly generous. I’m betting the former (though unlikely) is our only chance.

h.

Gavin Newsom:

I recognize the overwhelming need for affordable housing in San Francisco. That’s why my administration has made it a priority to create more units affordable to middle and low-income residents.

In 2005, my administration launched “Home 15-5,” an ambitious new initiative to build 15,000 new housing units by 2010, of which 5,250 will be affordable. Home 15-5 is streamlining the planning and permitting process. It’s worth noting that from 2000 to 2005, on average, only 1,896 housing units were added per year, but since 2004 the Planning Department has entitled over 21,000 new housing units. Home 15-5 is strengthening the requirements for affordable housing development to promote housing production in the private sector.

We have also made historic investments in affordable housing, including $226 million in FY08 alone. We are creating 5,302 new units of affordable housing over the next five years. Of those, over 1,400 rental units are for families; over 1,200 are for seniors and more than 800 are eligible for homeownership.

We have also launched HOPE SF, our plan to rehabilitate public housing in the City to create mixed income, mixed-use communities. HOPE SF will provide a one-for-one unit replacement and the creation of more family oriented housing. Through the first phase of HOPE SF, we are working to issue a $95 million bond to rebuild as many as 900 of the city’s most distressed public housing units, create 300 new affordable homes and build 700 to 900 new market-rate homes and condominiums.

I am also proud to note that we currently have the lowest eviction rate in three years.

In addition, we have been working diligently to address family flight from San Francisco. In early 2005, I appointed the Policy Council on Children, Youth and Families to look critically at this issue. The council issued a report identifying the major concerns voiced by San Francisco families as the underlying causes of family flight. It certainly came as no surprise that at the top of the list was the cost of housing. And we are working to change this. We have increased production of affordable family housing by approximately 20% since January 2006. Hundreds of multi-family affordable housing units are now in the development pipeline.

Please visit www.ActLocallySF.org to learn more about these and other important issues facing our city. Thank you.

Michael Powers:

It is time for us to insist that our residents are offered an opportunity

to maintain their ability to live in our beautiful city. The decline in living conditions have now reached the level of a clear and present danger to the quality of life that we have experienced in past years of living here. We need to pass bond measures to build and develop community housing projects that are honest to goodness low cost living centers, rather than continuing to do business with developers who only include the minimum volume of units required by law. How can we call 8 units of 100 an affordable and effective amount of units to allow all persons to reside there, if those other units are of a

monumental dollar amount?!

We need to construct an abundance of efficiency housing with a community interactive association in place in the dwellings themselves. Much as the experience of a CO-OP is to some residents in apartments, our city should provide the same opportunity to our citizens in need of low cost housing. The units can provide a studio size dormitory atmosphere with Murphy beds, trash and recycle chutes to eliminate clutter, and foot pedal faucets with consolidated water areas for space saving. Engineering around appliances that provide for

ingenuity, like living in a submarine can allow those of lesser income to experience a true burst in improvement in their quality of life. These neighborhood units can accommdate our seniors, and double as hostel use when desired. We owe it to ourselves AND our progeny to improve the living standards and vitality of life of ALL San Franciscans!

Lonnie Holmes:

Our expensive housing market has had a positive impact on our City’s general fund and individuals who can afford to buy or sell. Unfortunately, it’s also driving out life-long San Francisco residents, threatening our elderly on fixed incomes, and discouraging critical city workers who should live in the community in which they work. It’s a housing crisis we must manage, not just leave to market forces.

I want to improve the quality, availability and affordability of rental housing for households at all income levels and assess the impact of regulatory and other factors on quality rental housing;

With 25,000 luxury condos on the way and very little housing planned that low and middle-income families can afford, San Francisco may become a city only for the wealthy, with all its neighborhoods sold to the highest bidders.

The current Mayor’s “New Generation Next Agenda” proposed to double the city’s current affordable family housing of 1,500 units to 3,000 units by 2011. This is too modest when two-thirds of the city’s families (about 39,000 families) are currently in a housing crisis. In reality, low income and middle class San Franciscans are driven out of the City due to a housing crisis.

Under a Holmes for Mayor Administration, I will work with the Residential Housing Builders Association, housing advocates and other to develop a comprehensive affordable plan to stop families from leaving San Francisco in record numbers, I will also establish a Senior Housing Plan to ensure affordable, and reasonable accomodations exclusively for seniors, which will include specialized services such as medical, fiscal and support groups. I will also revitalize our public housing development units, many of which are earmarked Section 8 units that have been empty for 3 to 4 years.